Britain’s Gay Footballers

Justin Fashanu was an English footballer who played for various clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was the first black player to command a £1m transfer fee and became the first professional footballer to come out as gay. Shunned by both footballers and his family he committed suicide on 2nd May 1998 after being accused of sexually assaulting a seventeen year old american youth – a claim he denied in his suicide note.

Amal Fashanu, Justin’s neice and daughter of his football playing brother, John, was intrigued by the fact that out of 5000 professional footballers in Britain, not one had come out as gay since the death of her uncle. She decided to investigate and uncovered not only a wall of silence but shocking attitudes within her own family at the time of her uncle’s death.

This documentary raises many questions about British football today and the lack of change of attitudes, towards gay players, within the Football Association. See the documentary here